As is well known in the art, dark current is a significant limitation of the performance of image sensors, particularly CMOS image sensors. A typical image sensor includes a substrate having a photosensitive area or charge collection area for collecting charge, and a transfer gate for transferring charge from the photosensitive area to either a charge-to-voltage conversion mechanism, such as a floating diffusion in a CMOS image sensor, a transfer mechanism in a charge-coupled device image sensor or to a reset mechanism. A dielectric is positioned between the gate and the substrate, and the area of contact between the two areas is generally referred to in the art as the semiconductor/dielectric interface. During certain stages of image capture, such as integration, electrons not associated with the photosensitive process that captures the electronic representation of the image, i.e., the photo-generation process, accumulate in certain portions of the sensor, such as adjacent gates, and inherently migrate into the photosensitive area. These electrons, a portion of what is called dark current, are undesirable as they degrade the quality of the captured image.
It is known that a pinned photodiode includes substantially all the above-described devices except as described hereinbelow. In this regard, pinned photodiodes include a photosensitive area with a pinned layer spanning the photosensitive area. Pinned photodiodes are known to decrease dark current in photosensitive areas. However, dark current still exists from adjacent gates.
Consequently, a need exists for substantially eliminating dark current associated with adjacent gates and other similar structures.